


Hastur's Crown

by Hastur_The_Yellow_King



Category: Original Work
Genre: References to Lovecraft, Vikings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26094724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hastur_The_Yellow_King/pseuds/Hastur_The_Yellow_King
Summary: Long ago a great civilization existed in the North Sea. They were ruled over by a High Priest, who was given great powers through the Crown of Hastur, the King In Yellow. Unfortunately, this great Civilization was destroyed, and with its end the Crown was lost. But now the Crown has resurfaced again, and with it, the Might of Hastur can once again influence the world, for good or evil.





	Hastur's Crown

High Priestess Elzbieta sat high in her throne, overlooking her court. Anyone who was anyone in Cephosa had attended today, as it was her first court since her ascension to High Priestess since the death of her mentor High Priest Bartholomew. That would change of course, as the nobility and the burghers began to get an understanding of how the new High Priestess operated. 

Currently she was being ‘entertained’ by a musician who had travelled the world. According to, well, himself, he was a renowned singer and musician in many of the great cities around the world, having performed for everyone from the Pharaoh of Egypt, to the Mistress of the Dammerung family, all with great success. Elzbieta didn’t get what all the fuss was about. The musician was playing what appeared to be a combination between a Flageolet and a Slide Whistle to the beat of what were undoubtedly the most gaudy set of bongos ever devised. It was not a pleasant performance.

Hearing the ever higher notes from what she had decided to call the Slide Flageolet, Elzbieta began to envy the Cephelodine members of her court. The Cephelodines had a very narrow range of hearing, wide enough for them to hear voices, but not for much else. They greatly resemble Octopodes, which would make sense, as they were the descendants of a group of enchanted Octopodes and Squid who had been given the ability to dwell on land or in the sea by the first Priest of Cephosa, who had found that Cephalopods were highly intelligent creatures, and wished to forge a deeper bond with them through magic.

The sound of the Slide Flageolet broke her train of thought, and High Priestess Elzbieta was just about to have the man ejected from the court, or perhaps the whole city, just to stop the infernal racket, when his song abruptly ended. Elzbieta swore she could hear the sigh of relief from the court around her as the musician began to pack his horrid instruments away. Next thing on the schedule for today was an address from Lady Viola, the current representative for Cepholodine interests, likely congratulating High Priestess Elzbieta on her ascension, while slightly insulting her lineage. It was no secret the Cepholodine lobby was unhappy with her ascension, she was the first fully human High Priest in over 100 years, High Priest Bartholomew had been wildly popular in both the Human lobby, and the Cepholodine lobby. He had a way of walking the border between the two opposing interest groups that none of the half-breed High Priests before him could’ve hoped for. Elzbieta silently sighed to herself and hoped that she could live to be just half of the High Priestess that her predecessor had been.

Lady Viola rose from her seat and gracefully moved to the center of the room, standing before the great sigil of Cephosa, before bowing briefly to the High Priestess and beginning her speech.

“High Priestess Elzbieta,” She began, “I, as head of the Union for Cepholodine Representation, would like to give you my most humble congratulations on your recent ascension. I do hope that you hold up our city’s standards of justice and equality. You have a great burden upon you, as the first ---”

The door at the far end of the room flew open, causing a reverberating boom to sound through the court. Lady Viola was indignant. Her eyes narrowed into thin slits and she turned to the source of the sound.

“Who do you think you are, interrupting an important royal proceeding like this one. What could possibly be so important?” she all but yelled at the intruder. To be quite honest, labeling the proceeding at hand as ‘Important’ was a bit of a stretch. It was more of a formality than anything, and had little to no bearing on the course of the nation.

The Intruder stood still and quiet in the doorway, He was dressed peculiarly, wearing what appeared to be a wolf’s head upon his own, dressed in furs and leathers, with a necklace of bones around his neck. He carried in his right hand a great staff, with an orb of crystal that was gently glowing with blue light, wrapped in branches protruding from the body of the staff.

“Well are you here for a reason, or do you intend to stand there all day staring at us?” Lady Viola asked, somehow narrowing her eyes more at the man.

The intruder raised up his staff, the blue light within it growing harsher. He brought it down suddenly on the ground with a crack, and the blue light shot out of the orb in a lightning bolt, straight for Lady Viola. The room was filled with light and noise. When the occupants had regained their senses, they found the intruder had not moved from his place in the doorway. As for lady Viola, all that remained was the singed gown that she had been wearing moments ago. The room was shocked into silence.

After a moment the intruder began to walk towards the room. He stepped over the charred dress and stopped upon the Sigil. He looked down and grimaced at the sight, before looking the High Priestess straight in the eyes.

Elzbieta rose from her throne and stared back at him. Normally she might have been frightened by a man of this power, on her own she was not an adept magician, only conjuring sparks and minor illusions, nothing compared to the power this man had just shown, but she was not alone. As High Priestess, she was given the Crown of Hastur to wear, a crown filled with power, and the knowledge of how to use that power. When she next spoke, she allowed the smallest amount of it to enter her voice, giving her a hypnotic edge to her speech, and causing the inset gem to glow a faint yellow.

“You are a trespasser within our city,” she spoke to the man, “You come into my court and strike down one of my Nobles. Do you think yourself worthy to stand in the presence of the High Priestess of Cephosa?” The slight hypnosis in her voice made her question quite irresistible to answer. The man opened his mouth, and spoke a single word.

“Yes.”

The answer was not particularly surprising, after all, he had broken into her court and promptly committed murder. She had to say, this man was intriguing, though dangerous. She quickly weighed her options. She could always send the man out, though if he decided to retaliate, even Hastur’s might would likely not be enough to save her courtiers, and he could do some serious damage to the city before she would be able to stop him. Alternatively she could attempt to see what it was he wanted. Perhaps she could defuse the situation, prevent a catastrophe. Whatever she chose she had to do it quickly, as the court likely wouldn’t maintain it’s shocked silence for much longer. She spoke again.

“Who are you, and what is it that you have come here for.”

For a moment it seemed as though the man wouldn’t answer. Elzbieta pushed a bit more magic into her voice and prepared to give the question again, but then he began to speak.

“I am Gothi Thorkel, of the Val’ Grim Clan. Your People have for centuries mocked and ridiculed our powers. You have placed our Gods below yours. You have stolen from and desecrated our lands. Now we return these injustices.” He raised his staff once again, only to be struck from behind by the Captain of the CIty Guard. Blood oozed from a gash on the back of his head, and he fell upon the sigil.

The Captain quickly bowed to the High Priestess, before addressing her.

“High Priestess, one of our ships has just sent word that they have spotted a fleet heading for the city, we have deployed as many defensive ships as we can, but they outnumber us. What would you have us do?”

There was an awkward silence in the court for moments, before chaos erupted. Social Classes and Honor became obsolete in moments as it became clear that it was every man for himself. The courtiers began trampling each other in an attempt to get out of the royal palace, likely heading for whatever pier they had their personal ships docked to. In moments or perhaps hours the court had been cleared out, only the Captain and the High Priestess left.

“Take arms at the perimeter walls Captain. I must commune with the Kraken.”

The blood rushed out of the Captain’s face. The Kraken was a very big, and very hungry beast, who lived in the underwater caves and caverns below the city. He had a long standing promise to protect the island and those who dwelt upon it, but to summon him to fight was dangerous as he was rather bad at determining what ship was friend, and which was foe. 

“Yes High Priestess, It will be done” he said, with what might have been a slight shake in his voice, before turning around and rushing out to meet with his men.

The priestess turned and left the Court through a side door behind the throne, beginning her descent into the depths of the caverns below Cephosa.

When the city was first founded, it was built on a relatively small rocky island, with hundreds of tunnels riddling its mass. Some of these tunnels were small, so small that you’d find it hard to squeeze a chipmunk through their openings, and some were so large that when you could fit whole cities into them alone. Many of the surface tunnels had been requisitioned for urban developments, the population kept growing, but there was no space left of the surface for building, but beneath the palace was a network of untouched tunnels. They were an important site. It was said that these tunnels were where Hastur first gave the crown to the first High Priest of Cephosa. She walked through the dark tunnels, the only light coming from a strange yellow bioluminescent moss that coated the walls and the ceiling. 

Elzbieta moved quickly to the lowest chamber in the cave system. She stood on the edge of a pit, filled to the top with water. She was standing above the home of the Kraken. The beast was completely invisible within the murky waters, but Elzbieta could feel him watching her, hovering just below the surface. She closed her eyes and let out her magic, streaming towards the creature’s mind. She opened her eyes and found herself not in the caverns, but in an infinite plain. She stood upon the ocean itself, huge shadowy shapes moving about below her feet, threatening to reach out and pull her under. Above her the sky was a great yellow expanse, and where the sun would hang, was the eye of a great octopus.

“Why have you come here?” a voice said. It was a deep mighty voice, booming out across the infinite sea. 

Elzbieta started to fall to her knees, then realized the floor beneath her was water, and thought better of it.

“Oh mighty Kraken” she began “My city is under attack. The men of the North approach now on their boats to attack out people and destroy our city, and they have brought Mages with them. We need your help to stop their approach.”

The voice let out a long hum, as if thinking it over. Likely weighing his hunger against his natural lethargy. A creature the size of a small island doesn’t particularly like moving if they don’t have to, regardless of their long standing promise to protect the Island and it’s residents.

“Very well,” he said, after a pause. “I will protect your people from these invaders.”

There was a loud rumbling sound, and a flash of light. When her vision cleared Elzbieta found herself standing back in the cave. A loud rumbling noise filled the air, and the water which before had stood still was now bubbling, a dark shadow moving across the pool before her. As the last of it’s tentacles passed out of view she was left staring at a beautiful crystal lake, with pockets of bioluminescent blue algae clinging to the walls and swirling around in the center. It was a beautiful sight.

Elzbieta shook herself, there was no time for admiring this place, she had to get to the surface so she could help her people. She had been gifted Hastur’s might for a reason. Quickly she ascended through the tunnels, emerging just outside of the palace, to her beautiful city,

On a normal day Cephosa was a beautiful city, full of towering white spires that pierced the heavens, and spiraling buildings that lazially looped around in circles around the city beneath the palace. Today was not a normal day. The Val’ Grim Clan was attacking the eastern wall of the city, unfortunately it appeared as though the Cephosa forces had concentrated their defence of the West Wall, which was weaker at the moment due to a recent fire in the Western Bastion. Still, the walls would hold against Viking swords without issue. Suddenly the water on the Eastern side of the city erupted in a huge explosion. The massive tentacles of the Kraken began swinging wildly in the air, taking out dozens of ships in minutes. Unfortunately many of those ships were Cephosian ships. Any noble who had sought escape through the eastern piers had just been thrown by the great tentacles of the Kraken, likely directly into its gaping beak. Elzbieta shuddered at the thought. Using the Kraken was horribly brutal, and if the Val’ Grims didn’t hate them already, unleashing such a beast upon their fleet would surely ensure their animosity. 

Suddenly there were colored bolts of light raining down on the Kraken from the Viking Ships. They had Gothi aboard, lots of them. Suddenly things got much more serious for Cephosa. Their walls would protect them from anything a Viking Warrior could throw at them, but Viking Gothi were different, they wielded great powers, and a single one could take out a chunk of the wall with enough energy. A whole fleet of Gothi would be devastating to Cephosa.

High Priestess Elzbieta suddenly began to worry about her older brother, who was currently working in the Eastern Bastion. When She had joined with the Priesthood, her brother had joined with the Military, and was now right in the line of fire for the Viking Gothi. She began running down the vast staircase leading to the palace, and into the city below. Before she could reach the palace gates, a blast of blue light emerged from the roof of the palace, she was shocked, there was no way it could come from one of the ships, the power seemed to be coming from within the palace itself, which could only mean that Gothi Thorkel wasn’t as dead as she had hoped. It was a mistake not to ensure he was dead really, a simple stab through his heart would mean one less Gothi on the battlefield to contend with. Furthermore, he was inside the city gates, and would likely begin to destroy the city from the inside out.

Elzbieta panicked. If she left Gothi Thorkel to go save her brother, he would begin to destroy her city, but the battle outside of the walls worsened every minute, and she couldn’t know when the Eastern Bastion would fall. 

A loud boom shook the ground, she turned around and saw that a blast had knocked one of the Kraken’s tentacles into the Eastern Bastion. The impact had collapsed part of the wall. Elzbieta’s mind was made up, she rushed into the city, taking the fastest route to the Bastion that she could. She was half way through the city when a loud roar of pain filled the air, and one of the Kraken’s tentacles fell into the city. A blast of magic from a Gothi had sawed the poor beast’s tentacle right off, and it was coming down across the Eastern Wall. With an earth shattering crunch the wall gave way to the weight of the lost appendage. It was as if the world was moving in slow motion. Elzbieta saw the great tentacle falling, threatening to cut off her path, and she took action. Opening up her magic she put as much power as she could into moving fast. She saw the roofs of buildings collapse as it seemed the sky itself was falling upon them. Suddenly she heard the crash of it landing on the ground. She braced herself for the feeling of being crushed, but it didn’t come. She opened her eyes and turned around. Somehow she had made it. The appendage blocked off the entire street now, and if she wanted to return to the palace she would need to loop all the way around the city, but that didn’t matter now. Her goal was just in front of her, only a few blocks away now. She ran.

When she arrived at the imposing structure, it was under fire by the Gothi, much of the ocean facing side had been blown clean off, and flames were spreading across the rest of the structure. No sane person would go into such a dangerous place. Elzbieta attempted to force the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. She tried again and again but there was something blocking her entrance. Losing her patience, she loosed a bolt of magic into the door itself, it wasn’t the most damage the building would sustain today. The blockage, as it turned out, was the second story’s floor, which had collapsed in many places, including in front of the side entrance Elzbieta was using. She rushed up the stairs from the first, all the way to the fourth floor, which was where the bastion led to the wall walk. She had a hunch that the Vikings would be attempting to enter the city through the hole left by the Kraken's tentacle. She ran out into the open air, and found she was correct. A number of Viking ships had been run aground outside the eastern wall, and they were letting loose a horde of Viking Warriors, all charging the same small breach in the wall. It was reassuring to know that even with the might of the Gothi on their side, the Vikings still were more than willing to attempt to force themselves into an easy bottleneck to be attacked in. 

Elzbieta nearly missed her brother as she passed him, running to the carnage in front of her, certain that her brother’s foolhardy attitude would lead him into the heat of battle. She wasn’t exactly wrong, He had been attempting to run to the breach, when he had been shot between Crenelations by a bowman on one of the enemy ships, and he had gone down. He was sitting on the wooden flooring when she came to him, bleeding out and watching his brothers in arms go running towards the breach, trying to stop the Vikings from entering the town.

“Kazimierz!” She exclaimed, kneeling behind him, with tears in her eyes “Kazimierz, please talk to me, stay awake!”

Kazimierz for his part, didn’t really believe what he was seeing. His little sister, the newly named High Priestess, was kneeling and crying, telling him to stay awake. It was just the sort of thing people hallucinate before they die. He rested his head back, and closed his eyes, reflecting on his life. He should’ve listened to mom and joined the Priesthood, but the glory of the military was just too alluring for him. He was just about to drift off, darkness fogging the corners of his mind, when suddenly an intense pain in his side brought him back to consciousness. He looked down and saw that his little sister had ripped the arrow out of his torso, and was looking mighty guilty about it too. He tried to open his mouth to ask her why she did that, but all that came out was gurgles and moans. One thing he was sure of now, she wasn’t a hallucination, at least not completely. Suddenly her crown began to glow, brighter and brighter, until it was too much to look at. He closed his eyes, but still he could see the light through his eyelids. He turned away, and that was when he felt his sister lay her hand on his wound. A zing of electricity shot through his body, He thought it should feel painful, but it didn’t. Instead it felt relieving. Like a hot bath after a long day. The fog at the edges of his mind dissipated, and the world solidified around him. The intense light also faded out, and he opened his eyes to face his little sister. His little sister who had just run across a warzone of a city to save his life. He pulled her into a tight embrace and thanked her profusely.

Kazimierz got to his feet and grabbed up his sword. Now that he was back in the fight he was going to make those Vikings pay for endangering his city. He began to run towards the fray when suddenly he felt something tug at his arm, It was Elzbieta, she was shouting something, but the noise from the battle made it hard to hear what it was. She started to pull him towards the eastern bastion, or what was left of it. Most of the upper levels had been destroyed, and the lower levels were mostly on fire. As they got further from the battle site, he began to hear what she was saying

“-- Didn’t heal you so you could go throw your life away!” she shouted then “We’re gonna get you out of the city!”

Kazimierz’ mind was reeling, out of the city? How was he supposed to protect the people from out of the city? Elzbieta seemed to be reading his mind, suddenly she wasn’t tugging him along, she was facing him.

“Kazik, I can’t let you die out there? You have to go, you have to leave. I could never live with myself if I knew you had gone out and been killed.”

“I’ll be fine” he protested “We’ll drive them back, then we’ll fortify this place even better, I have to help them.”

Elzbieta shook her head, she had tears in her eyes again. “No, we can’t drive them back, look at what they’ve already done. They’re in the city, we can’t win now. We have to get out of here. We can escape, together.”

Kazimierz wasn’t sure what to think. He knew that to leave now would be desertion, but he also knew that she was right. It was a hopeless battle. The Vikings had already begun to push past the breach, and if a single Gothi got into the city, they could destroy entire blocks. Almost as if on queue, the street merchant's district exploded into blue light. That was the last push Kazimierz needed. It was no longer about protecting his city, he had to protect his sister.

Elzbieta pulled her brother along the rest of the wall and into the city. They couldn’t very well make it out through the breach, and getting back to the palace would be nearly impossible, but they could hug the wall around to the northern gate. Once there, they could take a boat and sail out and away from Cephosa. They ran along the Eastern wall, until it intersected with the North wall, from there it was a short distance to the main gate, which was of course closed, given the current siege. No matter, Elzbieta could get around something like a closed gate with ease. She opened her power, and reached out through it, she caught hold of the massive iron gates, and began to push them outwards. Grinding and creaking sounds came from the gatehouses, as the opening mechanisms for the gates were forced to move. The sun flooded through the great gate, and revealed the northern pier. Much of it was destroyed, even more was burning, but the West most branch seemed to be untouched, and there was a single boat left that was still floating and tied to the dock. It was a mid-sized sailing boat, and would need an enchantment to run without crew, but Elzbieta could work with that. She dragged her brother along the dock with her, and shoved him onto the deck. He was complaining about something or another, while she got to work on untying the boat from its moors. Then, she began her enchantment. At first Kazimierz looked confused, obviously unable to understand what she was doing, he had never been gifted with magic. Given where he was going that likely wasn’t a bad thing. The sails of the boat suddenly sprung to life, and it began drifting away from the dock. A look of panic flashed across Kazimirez’s face, then something Elzbieta could only place as betrayal. “I’m sorry Kazik, please don’t hate me! I’ll come to get you, I promise!” She truly meant it. But for now, it was better if she didn’t have to worry about Kazimirez getting hurt in the ensuing chaos. She was about to unleash the full power of Hastur, and she wasn’t sure what all would survive when she was finished. 

She turned back to the city, and saw that the Kraken was sinking back into the water. He had lost another couple of tentacles, and she was assuming that he was retreating back under to his vast cave system to heal. It would undoubtedly take a very long time for him to regrow his lost limbs, and he may not be too keen on helping the people of Cephosa in the meantime 

Elzbieta closed her eyes, and focused on the power she held in the crown. It glowed brightly and she could feel Hastur transforming her. Something that felt like cloth began wrapping its way along her arms, spiraling around her torso, creating a cloak that hid her body. She felt her eyes change and deform, they seemed different now, she assumed they likely appeared cephalopodic, though she obviously had no way to check this. She opened her eyes, and found that she was wearing a great yellow cloak, she also noted that she seemed taller, and all together bigger. She made her way towards the city, and though it seemed like merely walking pace to her, the world itself seemed to warp around her, and she arrived in record time. A group of vikings met her at the gate, and immediately went charging at her with their swords. With a single thought of annoyance, a shadowy tentacle emerged from her cloak and swept them away. That was a surprise, she hadn’t been expecting this much power in this form. She could already feel it taking a toll on her body though, so she’d have to move quickly. 

Elzbieta surveyed her city, the Gothi had already gotten within the walls, and were currently wreaking magical destruction upon the various boroughs of the city. She really didn’t know where to start, then she saw the flags ascending the steps of the palace. It appeared that the Viking Leadership were already moving in. Or perhaps they just wanted a good spot to watch the sacking of the town. One way or another, Elzbieta wasn’t going to have it. She crossed the city as fast as she could, for once ruing the spiraling roundabout city streets. If they had just built in a straight path to the palace, she would have already been there. Perhaps when they rebuilt she should go with a radial pattern moving out from the Palace. But those were things to consider later. Right now she had to ensure that there would be people left to rebuild the city. 

Finally reaching the palace, she began to ascend it’s many steps. It took her another few minutes before she finally arrived in the throne room. When she did arrive, who was there to greet her but the Chief Tyr of the Val’ Grim Clan himself He sat upon her throne, grinning like a madman. Elzbieta took a look around. Gothi Thorkel had done a number on the room. The ceiling with its beautiful ocean life mosaics had been blasted to pieces on the floor, the main doors had also been blown off their hinges, and the throne itself had taken a few minor magical blasts. Nothing that would stop the Chieftain from sitting on it of course.

Elzbieta raised her hands to her head and pulled back the hood of her cloak, not by much, but by enough to reveal her face to Chief Tyr, hoping that she could intimidate him. Instead he simply laughed.

“So you’re one of those Octopus people I’ve been hearing about.”

That phrase pretty much confirmed Elzbieta’s suspicions about her eyes.

“You’ve got an impressive city here, you know that? Of course, it's filled to the brim with monsters, but once we’ve gotten that little problem under control it’ll make a nice new port for the Val’ Grim Clan.”

Elzbieta said nothing, but continued to stare at the Chief. One of his guards stepped forward. Standing atop the charred dress of Lady Viola. Elzbieta felt rage build within her core. Hundreds, maybe thousands of her people had been killed by this man, she stared at the dress on the floor and felt the rage travel through her arm. Her arm which had been raised to aim at the Guard, though she couldn’t remember raising it. Suddenly bright yellow light shot from her hand, and caught the guard square in the chest. When the light cleared from the room, he was nothing but a charred pile of bones on the floor. 

Chief Tyr looked shocked, He jumped out of the throne and made a dash for the side door, the door leading into the caves beneath the palace. Elzbieta smirked, just for a moment, he had good sense to be scared. She followed him down into the caverns. 

There was a thick fog that had settled over the floor of the caves, the glowing moss making it look like plumes of smoke above a great flame. Elzbieta seemed to slither across the floor instead of walking. She could hear the shouting and clattering of the armored men racing across the floor deeper in the caves. The men would be approaching the central chamber soon, all of the tunnels eventually merged into it. Elzbieta decided that she would beat them there by taking a more direct route through the maze of tunnels.

It was a valiant effort, but Elzbieta still arrived after the Chief and his men. She pondered this for a second, and decided that this outcome was likely to her benefit. The Chief was now effectively trapped between her, and the dark pit of water right behind him. The fact that the pit was now shrouded in shadow proved to her that the Kraken was once again in residence here, and any attempt to escape through the water would end in the Chief’s death, likewise any attempt to go through her would also undoubtedly be his end.

She approached the quivering group slowly, feeling her power rise, and her body grow taller and leaner as she slowly made her way across the room. The guards seemed to gain their courage back as she began to loom over them, and quickly took up their swords to face her down. It was to no avail. As they charged her, she summoned up the shadowy tentacles that had aided her before, they traveled through the room under the fog, and all at once, suspended all six guards in the air. They struggled and thrashed, some even trying to hack at the darkened appendages with their swords, but they would get nowhere, unlike the great limbs of the Kraken which they could saw off with their magic and might, the dark tentacles of Hastur were not of this world, and they could not break them. With a wave of her hand, the men were crushed, and thrown into the blackened pit behind them. Elzbieta once more began slithering across the room, closer and closer to Chief Tyr. Had she been paying a bit more attention, she may have noticed that he wasn’t looking quite as frightened as he should. Truth be told he was looking a bit smug, certainly an odd look for a man who was in serious danger of being fed to a Kraken.

Chief Tyr snapped his fingers, and the battleground shifted. A dozed Gothi emerged from the darkened corners of the room, all in battle ready poses. At his command they could blast this yellow cloaked monster back from whence it came. This reality obviously dawned on the beast, as it slowed and pulled back from him, its tentacles coming closer to itself, spreading out less. It was a fear reaction. Chief Tyr eyed the crown upon its head, it was strangely beautiful, a gold circlet with a series of high spires and arches across the front that rose well above the head of this beast. He recognized it as the Crown of the High Priest of Cephosa, which meant one of two things, either one, the Crown of the High Priest was modeled after this one, or two, the monster before him was the High Priestess herself. He decided to operate off of assumption number two.

“High Priestess, did you really think I would just run down here without a plan?” he said with a laugh

“I led you here into an ambush so I could take that magical crown of yours.” This was a lie of course, being completely honest Chief Tyr hadn’t had much of a plan at all except to hope his Gothi could find and save him before this robed creature could kill him.

Elzbieta was at a loss. She couldn’t afford the Val’ Grim clan getting their hands on Hastur’s Crown. Their Gothi were already second to only the magical might of the Dammerung Clan, with the Crown they would be completely unstoppable. The Gothi had begun to move, to close in on her, one wrong move and she would be blasted with their destructive power from all angles. She had to act quickly and decisively. If she could make contact with the Kraken, then perhaps she could still save things, but to make contact would take more time than she had. She could try to lash out, but if she missed even one, they would be enough to destroy her. She looked at the walls around her. They were riddled with holes, each one an opening into a tunnel worming its way through the island.

So Elzbieta fell to her knees, bowing before the Chief. She felt the Gothi back away, just enough. The Chief was laughing again, and probably gloating. She didn’t have much time, but she would end this. Placing her hands on the ground, she let her magic flow into the stones. The cavern shook, and everyone was quiet. She felt tendrils of power reach out across the floor, into the walls, into every stone of the island. She pushed, and the stones moved. Someone screamed, a large stalactite fell from the ceiling into the pool of water, and an earth shattering roar of pain filled the room. The Chief charged her, and pulled her from the floor, glaring at her.

“What have you done?” he said, voice full of rage. She stared into his eyes, but before she had the chance to answer, a cracking noise pulled away their attention. The ceiling was collapsing. Elzbieta lept towards the door, but Chief Tyr grabbed a hold of her foot. She fell onto the floor, a floor that was rapidly tilting into the watery abyss, she shook him off and he slid into the dark waters. Elzbieta could see motion below the waves, perhaps the motion of a Kraken trying to escape certain doom. Elzbieta once more ran for the door, just before the floor of the great room completely broke off from the walls and sunk into the depths. Elzbieta made a break for the surface, she had undoubtedly doomed her city, but she had kept the Crown away from the Val’ Grim Clan, and if she was quick enough she could even join her brother. The surface was so close now, mere yards away from her was the door to her Throne room, and from there she was free. 

She burst through the door, seeing the sky above her destroyed throne room, she would make it out alive. Suddenly half of the throne room seemed to rise away from her, no, It wasn’t rising, she was falling. The throne room was falling into a sinkhole. Elzbieta held out her hand towards the sky as it went further out of her reach. The walls were collapsing now, soon she would be crushed.

“Kazimierz” she shouted, then the walls of her throne room fell.


End file.
